US leaders worried by Iraq killings

by Fanny Carrier, US leaders admitted Friday that they are worried by mounting accusations of civilian killings by the US military in Iraq, but expressed confidence that they would be thoroughly investigated.

President George W. Bush is "troubled" by all of the allegations made against US forces, a White House spokesman said. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the Marines would "soon" release the results of an inquiry into killings in the Iraqi city of Haditha last November.

"My impression is that the Marine Corps is handling it well," Rumsfeld said on the sidelines of an Asian security meeting in Singapore.

All of the alleged killings have taken place in the troubled regions around Baghdad that have become notorious as insurgent strongholds.

HADITHA - The US military is investigating whether US Marines killed 24 civilians in the town northwest of Baghdad after a marine was killed by a roadside bomb. A separate inquiry is looking into whether there was a coverup over the involvement in the killings.

Time magazine said Marines killed seven people in one house and then another 12 people in neighbouring homes, as well as shooting dead the driver and four passengers of a passing taxi. ISHAQI - A military inquiry has cleared US forces of wrongdoing during a raid on the village of Ishaqi, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, on March 15.

US officials said at the time that four people died in a firefight after US forces were tipped-off that an Al-Qaeda supporter was visiting a house in Ishaqi. The BBC showed video Friday of 11 bodies including women and children.

The US military has only officially confirmed that an investigation is underway.